After hearing Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim complaining that his opponent in the Democratic gubernatorial primary will not promise to endorse the winner, I went directly to candidate Ned Lamont to ask if that was true.

Indeed, after putting the question several different ways to a Lamont spokesperson, all I could get back was an email with a transcript of his answer to that question in another venue, in which he said only that he plans to win.

When I said that was not a direct answer to the question, the spokesperson emailed back that it was his full comment, saying, "This is Ned's answer."

Ned Lamont not willing to say whether he will respect the wishes of state Democrats voting in their primary Aug. 14 is to say he is not a very good Democrat. It makes you see why Connecticut voters have grown tired of arrogant gazillionaires dilettanting in politics.

There is a clear path to the November gubernatorial ballot for Lamont in the event he loses to Ganim. Could that be what he is planning?

Could Lamont run against the Democratic primary winner after losing to him, what Joe Lieberman did to Ned Lamont after Lamont beat the senator in the 2006 Democratic primary?

Or would Lamont endorse a Republican in the event Ganim wins? That would certainly insult Connecticut Democrats, too.

Lieberman petitioned his way on to the ballot in 2006, and was at least honest before the primary vote that he had a backup plan to do that in the event he lost. Time has now run out for Lamont to successfully petition by next week's deadline. But the Connecticut Working Families Party has endorsed Lamont in the primary, and, in the event he wins, that means, according to the policy party, it also will endorse him in the general election.

In the event Lamont loses, the party will consider bids made for a place on its gubernatorial line on the November ballot, a decision that would be made by the party's State Committee, party Executive Director Lindsay Farrell told me this week.

It would seem, since it endorsed him in the primary, the party likely would be willing to put him on its ballot line in November. The party has endorsed Eva Bermudez Zimmerman for lieutenant governor instead of Lamont running mate Susan Bysiewicz.

Zimmerman, according to party policy, will get a place on the Working Families ballot line in the event she wins the primary. She also could seek the party's support in the general election if she loses.

The Lamont candidacy reminds me of the 2016 Hillary Clinton candidacy, the party stacking the deck with an unpopular candidate because they fear the alternative supported by factions of the membership, in this case a felon instead of a socialist.

After all, party leaders are complicit in allowing Lamont to not answer the question about whether he will respect the results of the primary.

The Clinton choice didn't work out so well for them.

Joe Ganim broke the law, paid dearly for it and has asked for forgiveness and a second chance, an agenda of rehabilitation of criminals that liberal Democrats long have claimed they support.

Voters in the state's largest city overwhelmingly forgave him.

Will Ned Lamont give him another chance and listen to the voices and votes of Connecticut Democrats if they support him?

He won't say.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com